10-Year-Old Boy Who Killed Abusive Neo-Nazi Dad Is Being Sentenced

The 10-year-old boy who killed his abusive Neo-Nazi dad is preparing to be sentenced on Friday.

The killing occurred 2½ years ago and drew national attention because of the lifestyle lived by the young boys father. A judge in a Riverside County courtroom must now determine how to punish a child for second-degree murder. The young man could spend his entire teens, and possibly part of his young adult life behind bars.

Over the last several months the prosecution and defense have sparred over a suitable punishment for the 10-year-old boy.

Several experts from the State are expected to testify during the sentencing hearing.

When the case first started the young 10-year-old boy scribbled on a piece of paper and ignored blood-splattered pictures of his father. Now, older and attending classes and therapy, he has worked on his anger and appears attentive and focused in court. The young man, in the past, gave into violent outbursts which had him removed from several schools, today he has even earned the respect of the prosecution who had him convicted. According to Riverside County Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio, “I have grown attached to him in an odd way. I enjoy watching him grow and change but I am convinced he has done better in a quasi-military penal environment. He seems to like it, he knows what the rules are and what is expected and he is treated with dignity.”

Soccio believes the boy, 13, would do best in a state juvenile justice system, where he would attend school, live in a dorm-like setting, and be guarded by high-security surroundings. The boy could stay in that facility until the age of 23.

Defense attorneys want the boy to be housed in a state facility that could better deal with his serious emotional disabilities. The defense has sought out a residential treatment center that focuses on therapy and lighter security standards. Defense attorney Punam Patel Grewal argues that the boys father and his neo-nazi beliefs could get the young man into trouble at a state facility.

The boys father, an unemployed plumber, was a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement. His father regularly organized rallies at synagogues and day labor sites. The family often held Neo-Nazi meetings in their home.

At 10-years-old the defendant shot his father in the ear at point-blank range as he slept on a sofa. The boy later told police that his father and stepmother were constantly fighting and headed for divorce. The defense argued throughout the case that the boys father led to the killing because of his hateful rhetoric and violent outbursts.